Recipe vs shoot from the hip...

[rockpyle]

I will generally read through a bunch of recipes for something I am going to try to see the common stuff in all of them and get a feel for where to add some personality to the dish. Then I'll usually pick one of them as a basic guide and play from there.

There is a really good book called "How to cook without a book", which focuses on 8(?) basic techniques to learn and then gives guidelines for changing up the flavors using that technique. I have it and learned some good stuff from it.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Without-Book-Techniques/dp/0767902793"]How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart: Pam Anderson: 9780767902793: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]

Rock

 

[TroyA65]

If its cuisine I know, I just cook. No recipe.
If its cuisine I am not familiar with and I read a recipe I want to try, I follow it the first time.
If I see a recipe in any cuisine I am familiar with, I just take the idea but don't use the recipe.
Same here on baking, I follow recipes exactly, but I rarely bake,

I would say this is a very good description of my approach to cooking. I would also say that sometimes I have an ingredient or two and get an idea:idea:/build a recipe from that (ie..I had some frozen shrimp and fresh asparagus this spring so I put together a great pasta dish that was healthy and delicious, read: "his wife loved it").

After several disappointing attempts to recreate successful "made up" recipes over the years, I have finally learned to jump on the laptop and type up the ingredients and measurements (when it's a hit) give it a name, some instructions and call it a recipe.

 

[deguerre]

I've flown so far away from the seat of my pants I have to wear a skirt now...

 

[oifmarine2003]

I use a recipe as a guideline but then throw in extra of this or that based on how it looks

 

[93vpmod]

Accessories

I've flown so far away from the seat of my pants I have to wear a skirt now...

Nice purse...ya keep your recipes in that?

 

[aawa]

I like to call it McGyver cooking. Food that doesn't need to follow a format and just free style by looking at what is in the pantry, fridge and freezer. When I want a certain dish I'll look up 3-5 different recipes for it and find the common ingredients and ratio's for core ingredients and then go from there.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'm mostly a "fly by the seat of my pants" kinda cook with the exception of baking. I have been writing down a lot of MY recipes in the last year or so. Funny thing is, I don't even follow my own recipes most of the time. I will from time to time follow a recipe, and then adjust it to my liking from there.

KC

Same here. Baking you have to follow recipe.

Everything else? Always changing it up :icon_smile_tongue:

 

[Ole Man Dan]

I tend to shoot from the hip. (Cook that way too... :heh
Heck, I don't even follow 'Road Maps' too closely.
(Once you know where your going)

 

[RickterScale]

I usually take a look at 2-3 different recipes and pick and choose which elements I like from each, then just let the cook come to you.

 

[kenthanson]

A couple of weeks ago my wife was making a custard in the kitchen and to keep my 2 year old son from bugging her I started putting stuff in a bowl for him to mix. It ended up becoming a brownie mixture from no recipe and we had brownie with custard for dessert instead of just custard and it was good, could have had a little more cocoa powder but oh well.

 

[Bludawg]

Unless it is baking not so much. I take the ingredient list and +/- & tweek here & there until it suits me. Mostly I fly by the seat of my pants.

 

[deepsouth]

by the seat of my pants, unless it's something that requires precise measurements, such as baking.

 

[Lake Dogs]

I've created my own recipes by shooting from the hip, but generally I follow recipes

 

[pitbossJB]

I go with the flow, sometimes I will look at a few recipes to get some ideas, but I rarely will follow one. Yesterday I made a Fattie with tomatillo salsa, toasted pine nuts and Mozzerella, Yum!!

 

[kds9547]

I generally tweak things as I go but there are exceptions. If I'm making a new sauce or rub I'm careful to write it down. You never know when that magic moment might happen and then you're sitting there going "Damn, was that 1/2 cup or a whole cup of cayenne?"

 

[ODU Dad]

My philosophy is to read recipes in order to get the gist if what it is trying to accomplish and then follow along based on what I see and taste. Obviously this works if you have a history of success and failures and tasted other people's food. It develops a sense of how things work and what you like.

What I don't like is when I come up with something really good and then I have to try and figure out what I did. I am then forced to come up with a recipe for myself. I don't have the patience to write it down when I create.

I do know that many (most?) people are strict recipe followers and are bewildered that their cooking isn't as good as they want. They see a procedure but not the knowledge/wisdom in it.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

I am a recipe person unless I cant find it

 

[caseydog]

Wow, a lot of shoot-from-the-hip cookers here.

Like others have mentioned, I look at cookbooks and recipes online to get a general idea what goes into something new I want to cook. The recipes will often differ, but I get the general idea, and substitute ingredients if the recipes call for something I don't like, or can't get.

CD

 

[Hawg Father of Seoul]

Yeah, I don't even use a recipe for baking. Just have to remember a few ratios.

 

[markdtn]

I usually follow the recipe the first time really closely, or read a bunch of recipes and start with the one that sounds best and write that down. Second time I make something, I "kinda measure" and adjust amounts from the last time. Cooking is meant to have some give and take. My experience is that if you are in the ballpark with amounts, it will taste about the same. But I cook for my family and friends, not for Comps.